ENL4161 – Spring 2027 – Taylor

Do you want to discover great English literature that is NOT Shakespeare and NOT Jane Austen? (But does satisfy the pre-1800 requirement). Join us as we lift the curtain on drama that reveals more than you would ever expect. Actors invested in embodying ordinary early modern English people who hated England so much that they were willing to risk their lives crossing the dangerous North Atlantic in small wooden boats to try to make a living in a completely alien environment without any infrastructure. Meet a raucous comedy about a modern working-class woman who dresses like a man, challenges a man to a duel, beats him, and in her happy ending doesn't get married! You will applaud a play about a scholar who literally sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge but gets a cruel surprise when the debt comes due. These are plays that will open your eyes to a brave new world of magic, murder, mayhem, revolution, and the cost of greed. These are entertainments written by Renaissance playwrights not afraid to create for the stage, a reflection of a world that set the scene for our own. Enter! The show is about to begin.